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Process
AI Operations Assistant for Logistics
Where-is-my-shipment requests, missing paperwork and delivery exceptions handled from your TMS, with carriers chased before customers ask twice.
A logistics desk spends much of the day answering where-is-my-shipment questions, chasing paperwork and following up with carriers. This edition takes those routine requests off your team. It checks shipment status against your TMS or tracking feed, tracks exceptions, chases missing documents and carriers inside your rules, and sends managers a daily brief. Anything outside your SOPs goes to the coordinator you name.
- Shipment status answered from your TMS or tracking feed
- Exceptions tracked with owners and followed up automatically
- Daily operations brief of open exceptions and late documents
$7,600
20–30 working days
Optional maintenance $380/mo
What it is
AI Operations Assistant for Logistics handles the routine requests that bury a logistics desk: shipment status checks against your TMS or tracking feed, chasing missing documents, flagging delivery exceptions and following up with carriers. Shippers and consignees get answers on one channel.
Why businesses buy it
Every status call a dispatcher takes is time not spent fixing the shipment that is actually late. When exceptions and paperwork are tracked in inboxes and memory, things fall through, customers ask twice and carriers are chased too late. This edition handles the routine requests and follow-ups your SOPs already describe, and flags the rest to a named person. The Scope Card fixes the channel, connected systems, workflows and test scenarios before you order, so you know exactly what it handles and what stays with your team.
Problems this solves
The logistics desk is buried in where-is-my-shipment requests
Shipment status checks are answered against your TMS or tracking feed on one channel. Shippers and consignees get answers without a coordinator looking each one up.
Missing documents hold shipments while nobody chases them
Chasing missing documents is one of the logistics workflow templates. The assistant follows up for you within your approval rules, so paperwork gaps do not sit idle.
Delivery exceptions are reported late to the people affected
Delivery exceptions are flagged as they come through your tracking data. The shipper or consignee affected hears early, while there is still time to rearrange delivery.
Carrier follow-ups slip when the desk gets busy
The assistant follows up with carriers using your logistics request types and workflows. Follow-ups happen on time even on the busiest days, with escalation when needed.
A good fit if
Your ops desk spends much of the day answering where-is-my-shipment emails or messages by looking each consignment up in the TMS.
Proof of delivery, customs paperwork or booking confirmations go missing and someone has to chase the carrier or the shipper by hand.
Delivery exceptions, such as a failed delivery or a missed pickup, are noticed late because nobody watches the tracking feed continuously.
You can write down who handles what: which exceptions go to which coordinator, and when a carrier should be chased.
Not the right fit if
You need a full customer support agent answering shippers' wider questions from your knowledge base. See AI Customer Support Agent for Logistics.
Shipment status questions mostly arrive on WhatsApp and you only need those answered. See WhatsApp AI Support Agent for Logistics.
You want data pulled out of bills of lading, invoices or customs forms into your systems. See AI Document Extraction for Logistics.
You need more than two systems with write access, for example a TMS, a warehouse system and an ERP together. Add a note at checkout for a Change Quote.
How it works
- Requests arrive on one channel, such as your ops email inbox or WhatsApp, and each is matched to the Logistics workflow template.
- Status questions are answered from your TMS or tracking API, quoting the consignment's latest scan or milestone rather than a guess.
- Missing documents are chased. If a proof of delivery or booking confirmation is not in document storage by the time you set, the carrier or shipper gets a follow-up.
- Exceptions are flagged as they appear in the tracking feed, with a structured brief naming the shipment, the owner and the deadline to resolve it.
- Anything outside your rules, such as a claim or a rate dispute, goes to the coordinator you named with the history attached.
- Fifty scenarios from your own shipments and messages are tested before launch, covering status, documents and exceptions.
What you provide within 72 hours
Your portal lists these the moment you order. Delivery starts the working day after everything is in and your access is checked.
- Admin or API access to your TMS or tracking API and to your document storage, with test shipments if possible.
- Your SOPs for status queries, document chasing and exception handling.
- Carrier contact routes and the follow-up timings you use today.
- Ten real shipment queries or emails from shippers and consignees.
- Who owns each exception type, plus the approver for anything outside the rules.
- Your reporting cadence and recipients for the daily or weekly brief.
- One decision-maker for approvals; access keys are never sent by email.
- An API key for your own AI model account (for example OpenAI or Google Gemini), created for this build with a spending limit.
The 72-hour rule. Send everything on your checklist, including access, within 72 hours of ordering so your build starts on time.
Timeline
Start
Intake verified: TMS access, document rules and exception owners agreed.
Weeks 1–2
Status, document-chasing and exception workflows built from your SOPs.
Week 3
TMS or tracking feed and document storage connected and tested.
Weeks 3–4
50 shipment scenarios run and reviewed with your ops lead.
Week 4
Your review and two rounds of changes.
Go-live
Live on your ops channel, written handover report, support starts.
| Option | Delivery time | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Standard | 20–30 working days | $7,600 |
| Express | 15–25 working days | $8,750 |
| Rush | 10–20 working days | $9,900 |
What you receive at handover
- AI Operations Assistant for Logistics configured on one channel for shippers and consignees
- Logistics request types and workflow templates, with up to six workflows on your approval rules
- Read and write connection to up to two agreed systems, such as your TMS or tracking feed
- Test report using logistics scenarios across 50 documented test cases
- Admin guide and a written handover report
- 30 days of post-launch support
Expected benefits and how to measure them
- Can free coordinators from repeat status checks
- Helps shipments move without waiting on documents
- Makes carrier follow-ups consistent
- Status requests handled by coordinators
- Count status requests answered by hand in a sample week before launch and a sample week after.
- Shipments held for documents
- Compare document holds per month in your TMS before and after launch.
- Time to notify customers of exceptions
- Compare the gap between an exception and customer notification, from your records, before and after launch.
Before you start: For one week, count status requests, document chases and carrier follow-ups your desk handles. Note average exception notification time.
These are things to track, not promised results. Outcomes depend on your data, your team and your market.
Running costs
The build is charged once. Running costs are roughly $50 to $250 a month in your own accounts for AI model usage and hosting, on top of your existing TMS, tracking and messaging plans. WhatsApp conversation fees, if that is your channel, are billed by the provider to you.
Usage during build and testing is billed to your accounts too.
Ask about running costsCustom requirements
A third system such as a warehouse management system, a second language for international shippers, or a second channel needs a Change Quote. Add a note at checkout for a written quote.
Request a custom versionKeep it running
Optional monthly maintenance covers monitoring, fixes and monthly change hours, for example a new carrier, a revised exception rule or a new document type to chase.
$380/mo (5% of the build price a month, includes 3 change hours)
Optional. Starts after the post-launch support period. Cancel any month.
How maintenance worksHow this compares
| Do it yourself with a SaaS tool | Hire a custom agency | Upmark Labs | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Price | A visibility platform bills per shipment or per seat | An outsourced control tower bills monthly | Ours is one fixed price, shown on this page before you buy |
| Status answers | A tracking page customers must check themselves | Staff look up each consignment | Ours answers from your TMS on the channel they asked |
| Document chasing | Rarely chases missing paperwork | An agency build depends on what was agreed | Ours follows up when a document is late |
| Delivery | Carrier onboarding can take months | An agency usually takes several weeks, set per project | Ours has a fixed delivery time shown before you buy, with faster options |
Questions about this product
Which logistics systems can the operations assistant read from?
Up to two connected systems with read and write access. Most logistics teams choose their TMS or a tracking API, plus document storage or Google Workspace for paperwork and email. A warehouse system or ERP as a third system would be quoted through a Change Quote.
Can it answer where-is-my-shipment messages on WhatsApp?
Yes, if WhatsApp is the one channel you choose at intake. It answers from your TMS or tracking data in the same chat. WhatsApp conversation fees are billed by the provider to your own account. A second channel, such as email as well, is available as a channel add-on.
How does it handle a delivery exception?
When the tracking feed shows an exception you have defined, such as a failed delivery or missed pickup, it creates a structured brief naming the shipment, the owner and the deadline. The owner is alerted, and if the exception is still open later, a follow-up goes out automatically.
What does AI Operations Assistant for Logistics cost?
The price for each delivery speed is shown in the panel on this page, and every speed delivers the same Scope Card: one channel, two connected systems such as your TMS and document storage, up to six workflows including the daily brief, and 50 documented test scenarios. Running costs of roughly $50 to $250 a month for AI usage and hosting are billed to your own accounts.
Will it chase carriers without our approval?
Only in the ways your SOPs allow. You set when a carrier or shipper is chased, how and how often. Anything else, such as disputing a charge or agreeing a new delivery date, goes to the coordinator you named rather than being decided automatically.
Can it send a daily shipment brief to our managers?
Yes. A structured brief of open exceptions, late documents and owners can be delivered on the reporting cadence you set, to the recipients you name. It is one of the six workflows, so it is included in the price rather than added later.
Guides on this topic
All guides Get your logistics desk out of the tracking lookups.
Order AI Operations Assistant for Logistics and on a fixed delivery date shipment status questions, missing paperwork and delivery exceptions are handled from your own TMS data.
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